Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash
In this post, our committee member Maria de la Caridad Smith Batson shares insights from a teacher development programme she coordinated.
Attaining teaching excellence is a long journey, and unfortunately, most of the time, we do not come across it.
It is not easy to find the perfect textbook that suits our needs and learners’ expectations. Thus, teachers’ growth and development is a permanent and dynamic field of English Language Teaching (ELT), staying current and effective is not just a goal—it is a necessity.
In 2023, I launched an on-going, hands-on Teacher Development (TD) initiative designed to transform educators to cope with teaching oral and written English for communication in Junior High in the Cuban context, and make teachers aware of the need to step forward from passive learners into active investigators.
The project brought together dedicated English teachers from two Teachers’ Training Schools in Las Tunas, my province, but turned out to favour various educational levels and grades teachers, and not only the ones the project had foreseen, uniting them not just for professional growth, but for a shared journey of discovery.
We started having monthly meetings for the fourteen members, with a central topic to discuss, after attempts of a workshop or just one of the four leaders of any of the teams we agreed to form, made a theoretical dissertation, and provided examples, for later teamwork. Through this collaborative effort, we started moving beyond conventional training models, utilizing a specialized investigation project structure, grounded in action research, to solve problems we usually encounter in presentation, practice, and testing oral communication in the classroom.
Soon, I became aware that this was not enough. I wanted and needed teachers to learn, and put into practice current thinking of English language teaching worldwide, that was no available for every teacher, due to the lack of resources, technology or access to sources different from the ones provided by the Ministry of Education or teacher development actions carried out by the British Council, for example, to get the knowledge to drive themselves for meaningful, sustainable change in their classrooms in our limited content we live in. Then, the idea of teaching the postgraduate courses:
Didactic components upgrade for English Junior High School teachers, which happened in 2023, with repeated editions in 2024 and in 2025, as teachers across the province started joining, because not all of them had access to the first edition call.
But it was not enough, and a new idea emerged with different and sounder topics, to enhance New trends in English methodology: good practice exemplar for teaching and learning oral and written communication, in 2025 came into being. Still not enough, teachers needed to step forward, interact, socialize, and publish their action-classroom research, so the course Strategies for publishing impactful language teaching and learning research happened with a lighter version in 2024, and I introduced the use of artificial intelligence in 2025.
The initiative centered on an investigation project with English teachers across Junior High, which favoured several teachers from different educational levels, grades, and municipalities from the province, in the way they learned the postgraduate courses were running. I had the chance to introduce part of the topics to a course in a masters’ degree program I was part of the board, and was about to deliver my teaching to the ones enrolled, because some inside the course were aware of what was happening in the province with the project. I was very glad with the idea, and that set the stage for sharing materials and making teachers more aware of why their work and teacher development matter.
The Project’s foundation: why investigation?
The “Why”. The philosophy behind my approach
The idea was just to emphasize what might move teachers from being passive recipients of training to active researchers and changing agents in their own classrooms. At the same time, I assumed that if these insights resonated with their experience, there was a need to take the next step from reflection to action.
My first suggestion was then, to start by choosing one small change they, as teachers, can make in your classroom or school—a new collaborative routine, a different way of listening to students, or a commitment to share practice with a colleague—and intentionally observe its impact over time.
Then, make his/her voice visible: documenting what happens, sharing it in the teacher community, and advocating for the support and conditions needed to keep growing. Empowerment begins with everyday decisions, and the next action can inspire others to rethink what is possible in their own classrooms.
The Participants: teachers from all the different educational levels (Elementary to University, including Language Schools) from third to twelfth grade was the composition of your group, aspect that enriched the experience through this cross-pollination, helping at the same time to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
To tell the truth, those who usually follow my postgraduate courses are my own former students from 30 years ago. Some of them hold a Doctor in Sciences title, two of them graduated exactly before I did, and the vast majority of them have sought my advice or mentorship in a Master’s degree thesis dissertation, which I have carried out with much commitment in a shared journey of discovery.
Details on the different topics developed to upgrade the teachers’ knowledge. Why are these topics essential?
Each of those topics was essential because together they form a coherent “teacher knowledge framework” that links theory, planning, classroom practice, and current innovation in language teaching. Below, each topic is briefly substantiated in terms of why it is crucial for upgrading teachers’ professional competence.
Main topics covered for Teacher Development in Las Tunas in the last decade
Conclusions
Teacher empowerment emerges as both a deeply personal journey and a strategic imperative for educational systems seeking lasting transformation.
Some insights from this Teacher Development Project reveal that empowerment thrives when educators are trusted as reflective practitioners and co-creators of knowledge; through sustained collaboration, shared leadership, and institutional support, teachers evolve into change agents who inspire innovation within their classrooms and communities.
At the same time, this project underscores that empowerment cannot depend solely on individual enthusiasm; it requires coherent structures and policies that ensure professional growth, equity, and recognition, which I fully got from my Department and Provincial administration.
When such frameworks align with teachers’ voices and lived experiences, professional development moves beyond training—it becomes a collective endeavour that strengthens the teaching-learning process of English and education itself.
Ultimately, empowering teachers is an act of faith in human potential, for it acknowledges that the most meaningful educational change begins not with prescriptions from above, but from empowered professionals who learn, lead, and transform from within.
About Maria de la Caridad Smith Batson
Maria de la Caridad Smith Batson is a Full Professor at the University of Las Tunas, holds a doctorate in Educational Sciences; she is a teacher trainer, with an expertise on Integrated English Practice and English Didactics in Teaching Education Programs. Her professional experience of more than thirty years in the field has led to research studies published in several books and journal articles, on topics such as: The training process, Language teaching and learning, Professional guidance; the teacher’s role, and EFL habits and skills formation, which are also her research interests. She is a board member for teacher’s ranks, Masters’ and Doctorate dissertations.